‘Cat burglar’ suspect now facing charges in Livonia

A Detroit man believed to have broken into several homes across Southeast Michigan now faces charges after an investigation in Livonia.

Charges have been authorized for Derek Cathey, 53, by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office stemming from an incident police say took place this summer on Weyher in Livonia. Those charges including: first-degree home invasion, identity theft, stealing/retaining a financial transaction device without consent and sale/use of a financial transaction device without consent. He’s also been charged as a habitual offender, per Wayne County Circuit Court online records.

The Livonia Police Department said earlier this summer Cathey was tracked by police after he was suspected of breaking into the home on Weyher back on July 21. After police located him, he was found traveling across the region, casing homes in places such as Royal Oak, Warren, Madison Heights, Dearborn and Dearborn Heights.

Police say they observed him enter a home in Dearborn and pursued him to Garden City, where he was found in possession of a purse belonging to a Dearborn resident at the home he was suspected of breaking into.

Cathey was charged in Dearborn’s 20th District Court with first-degree home invasion and waived his preliminary examination in that courthouse last month. He was arraigned in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in downtown Detroit on that count last Friday, and is due back in court Monday.

The Livonia charges will be initially heard in 16th District Court.

If convicted, Cathey faces up to 20 years in prison. Police say he has a criminal background that dates back as far as 1979.

He currently remains locked up in the Wayne County Jail on a $250,000 cash or surety bond.